Books

Mryna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood

REVIEWED BY CHARLES LONBERGER

This book, by Emily Leider, recreates the life of an actress who was as much an Icon of 1930s America as James Cagney. It is very quietly ironic that such a saucy lady, known for her nude modeling before she entered the Film Industry, came to embody celluloid matrimony. Leider makes a dubious assumption: that, in and of itself, being married makes one “Good.”

This being said, Leider lets the facts speak for themselves and, thus, does not explicitly observe the obvious: while Loy was happily married on screen (and very well matched with the urbane William Powell), her private marital history was a sad series of failures.

Appearances can be deceptive.

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